Even an experienced speaker
like Guy Kawasaki says, “Moderating a panel is
deceptively hard--harder, in fact, than keynoting."
This blog offers tips and examples on how to be a better
panel discussion moderator, with advice from The Eloquent Woman's Guide to Moderating Panels and speaker coach Denise Graveline.

Whether you're doing a high-profile presidential debate's moderation or a standard conference panel, if it's your first moderator gig, congratulations! I say that because you have less to unlearn than a seasoned panel moderator with bad habits.

The other big advantage many first-time moderators have lies in their willingness to research and then share their newfound knowledge with others. Here are four first-timer's insights on how to approach panel moderation:

Cate Huston shared on this blog her approach to moderating a panel at Beyond the Code, including how she prepared, her guidance for panelists, and her thoughts on the three roles of a moderator. I'm honored that she also found good ideas in my ebook (link below) and shared it with all the panelists: "Recommending Denise’s book to all panelists was an act of genius. At the end when I thanked everyone one of them commented that because I’d encouraged them to read this book they all knew how hard I had worked!" she wrote.

Joyce Stack's How I prepared for moderating my first panel at the API Strategy and Practice Summit is actually what she was thinking as she was flying to the panel, so it's loaded with advice she had before the panel actually took place--perhaps a good way for you anticipate what prep looks and feels like. I liked this piece of advice: "Accept that you will not please everyone. It's hard at conferences right – you have the noobs and the experts and it’s really difficult to please everybody. Just accept it."